She Said Yes
by ThisDivaLovesMattHardy
Summary: After Jeff Hardy's house burned down and he moved into his new home, he ends up meeting the person who moved into the house he'd lived in during the building process. In a curious twist of fate, that person ends up changing his life forever.


DISCLAIMER: This story is in no way affiliated with anything related to Jeff Hardy, his character, any images, or any other property of World Wrestling Entertainment. I am simply using him as a character, but I claim no ownership whatsoever to anything. It is simply fiction, it is not meant to be taken as anything more than that. I do not own the song "She Said Yes" either, it is performed and made famous by Chad Brock. The character of Lara is my own creation, as are the events and dialogue that occur, but that is all. No copyright infringement of any kind is intended.

~~~

**"She Said Yes"**

He still couldn't believe what had happened. It still gave him nightmares. It's crazy how things you never imagined would happen _can _happen so unexpectedly, so suddenly. There he was sitting, head bowed, talking to his cousin as the ink on his neck and shoulders was refreshed. That was when it had happened. All with a simple phone call. When the phone had rang, he was sure it was just one of his friends, or maybe somebody from the company with an update on what was going on with him. But once he heard his brother's voice, his words, and his tome - he knew it was bad. Those eleven words made time stop for the high-flying daredevil extremist: "Your house is on fire! You have to get back here!"You know how they say when you hear something like that, your life flashes before your eyes, your breath catches in your lungs, your heart sinks at the thought of how much you could lose? It's all true. He felt like he was moving in slow motion as he flipped his cell phone closed. But then in a flash he was up, out the door, and down the road. Practically falling out of his car, his eyes fell on the fireball that had become his home. Inside all of his possessions, all of his work, his everything. There weren't many thoughts passing through his head, but one that did: _What am I going to do now?_

**She moved into my old apartment,  
****That's how we got this whole thing started,  
****She called and said that I had mail waiting there for me.  
****I told her that I'd come and get it;  
****How could I know in just a minute,  
****That I'd be standing face to face with my own destiny?  
****Ohhhh how we sat there talking just like we were old friends  
****Ohhhh then I asked her, "Can I see you again?"**

Almost a year and a half after the fire, he was finally starting to rebuild his home life. He'd started out living with his brother, before moving into a small rented-out house just down the road. It wasn't home, but he would make due. He had to. Strive in the face of adversity: it was what Jeff Hardy did. What he lived to do. He'd done as much as he could during the rebuilding process there, even though he wasn't home much what with being on the road and all. It was very difficult trying to replace all the things he'd lost but… well, it was going as best as could be expected, you now, here Jeff was, sixteen months and twenty-four days after that horrible day - yes, he kept count - walking into his brand new, custom-built home. It wasn't as comfortable as his former one, obviously. It still felt stiff, chilly, and a bit unlike home… but that would go away eventually. Or so he hoped. He was smack in the middle of unpacking, boxes littered all over the place, packing paper tossed willy-nilly on the floor. He was in the middle of unpacking DVDs and such into an entertainment center when he heard his cell phone ring. Getting up from his kneeling position on the floor, he ran a hand through his hair as he walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up his phone. Flipping the device open, he pressed it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hi, may I speak with Jeff Hardy?" a female voice asked.

"Speaking," he said, rubbing a hand over his face. What now?

"Hi. My name is Lara Vanderheyden. I'm living at the address you used to, and um… I'm just calling to let you know that you've got some things that came in the mail for you here. I could drop them off to you, if you'd like…"

Well, that wasn't bad then. Could have been much, much worse news. He actually liked receiving mail. Weird, huh? Maybe it was a new pair of wrestling boots? Yeah. Whatever. He thought for a moment. "Nah, it's okay. I've got to go by that way anyway. I'll just stop in and get it. Will you be around all day?"

"Yeah, I will. I've got lots to do around here, so I'll be home."

"Okay, thanks for letting me know," he said.

"No problem. Bye," came Lara's response.

"Later," he said, then hung up. Setting his phone down, he made a mental note to himself to stop by his old residence on his way to Matt's house.

Three hours later, around one in the afternoon, Jeff was leaving his house. He was planning to pay a visit to his brother, while getting a break from unpacking and everything else. He got in his car and backed out of his gravel driveway. Smoothly maneuvering the car out onto the road, he started down the way toward his brother's house. But about six-tenths of a mile before Matt's house, he peeled off into another driveway, a driveway leading up to a small parked the car and killed the engine. Slipping a pair of dark black shades over his green eyes as he unbuckled his seatbelt, Jeff opened the door and got out, walking around the car. After making his way up the front path, he knocked on the front door, and stepped back.

A few moments later, the door opened, and the bubbly brunette named Lara appeared. She was about five foot eleven, with curly brown hair and bright blue eyes. She had on a pair of denim capris and a black cap sleeve t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back, and there was a red bandana on her head. When she opened the door, a friendly smile came to her face. "Hi. Jeff Hardy, right?"

"Yep," he nodded, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Of course. Should've recognized the hair," she said with a laugh. "I'm Lara. C'mon in, I'll get the stuff that came for you," she said, holding the door open. When he had walked inside, she walked across the small living room and into the adjacent kitchen, her flip-flopped feet smacking against the hardwood floor.

_Good thing Matt's not here_, Jeff thought to himself, shaking his wandered in, and looked around. It was definitely a lot cleaner and more neat than when he'd been there, and he took to spending his waiting time looking at the pictures hanging on the wall. Most of them were the usual, you know, family and everything. But then he stumbled over a few that included people he knew. Lara was in them, with a bunch of the guys from WWE: Cena, Orton, Batista, Mysterio, Kingston… the list goes on and on. He stood there, just looking at them. So, she was a WWE fan. Awesome. But Jeff didn't plan on saying anything… that was, until, at least, she said something. The Rainbow-Haired Warrior turned his head to look over his shoulder as he heard the sound of flip-flops again. There he saw Lara walking back into the room, carrying a few parcels in her arms and clutching a bundle of envelopes in her hand.

She noticed him looking at the pictures as she walked over to him, still wearing her friendly smile."Those are some of my favorite pictures."

"Yeah?" he asked, taking the parcels and other mails from her. "You've got a pretty cool collection there. So you're a WWE fan? I was wondering, since you made the hair comment before…"

That made Lara laugh - a laugh that, when it hit Jeff's ears, was like music to them. "Yeah. I've been watching for as long as I can remember. And, as you've already seen, I've met quite a few of my favorite superstars," she nodded, smiling.

Jeff smiled - though it looked a bit like a skeptical smirk - as he turned to glance at the photos once more. What if this girl wasn't a Jeff Hardy fan? There weren't many people out there that weren't, but he definitely knew there were some of them. Granted, she was being very nice to him, but that might just be a front. Oh well, the only way he could figure it out was to keep talking to her. She seemed like a nice girl… and cute to boot. Definitely somebody he could be friends with. Jeff wasn't usually such a quick judge of character, but something just seemed different about the girl. Turning to face her again, he spoke to her. "Who was your favorite person you met so far?"

"Umm.." Lara said, thinking as her eyes scanned over the various photos. "Probably Kofi Kingston. Everybody else seemed like they were rushing to get away from the fans, but Kofi took the time to actually talk to all of us and we all had a lot of fun hanging out with him. And Big Show and Melina were the same way."

Jeff nodded. "Yeah. Both cool guys. How about the flip side? Who was the biggest jerk of them all?" he asked, fighting to keep the smirk off his face. He would bet anything he knew what her answer would be.

Lara thought back, as her meet and greets had been spanned over an extended period of time. "I'd probably have to say that Chris Jericho is the biggest jerk. He took my program, wrote 'Y2J' across his face on it before he practically shoved it back at me. I was like… um, okay…"

"Jericho's an ass. I don't blame you for not liking him," Jeff said. "You've got a nice collection of pictures here, anyway," he said, turning back to the pictures.

"Yeah, I'm actually making a hand-drawn collage that's sort of documenting my WWE 'journey' based on these pictures, and all the others I've got," Lara nodded. "It's actually turning out pretty cool."

The words 'hand-drawn collage' sparked the interest of the Charismatic Enigma. "Oh really?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. "Would you mind showing it to me?" he asked. He was interested to see what she was creating.

Lara was, obviously, surprised by the question. "Uh, sure," she said, nodding and looking around. "Come on, the studio is in the basement. You can set that stuff on the kitchen table," she said, indicating the things he was carrying before motioning for him to follow her as she turned and walked through the same open doorway she'd gone through before.

Jeff followed her, and walked into the small kitchen slash dining area. He set the small boxes and bundle of mail on the table before following her to the back of the kitchen and down the stairs to the basement of the home. When he'd lived here, the basement had been used to keep boxes and a few other things, things he didn't want to deal with. But now, it had been transformed into what looked like a state of the art abstract art studio. There were random objects scattered about on shelves and tables around the room and the walls were covered in various pieces of abstract art. The décor was much less neat than upstairs and he never would have guessed from just seeing the living room that an area like this existed just one floor below.

"Did you do all these?" Jeff asked in somewhat amazement as he walked along the wall in the direction she'd gone, looking at all the various pieces of artwork, which contained every shape, every shade and color you could imagine.

"Yeah, I did," she said, nodding as she watched him. She had taken a spot next to a large canvas resting on a large easel. There were color sketches, carbon copies of the pictures upstairs as well as others, each obviously hand-drawn, accompanied by a date and a city name. They were put in chronological order and took up about three quarters of the canvas' surface.

After a few moments, Jeff walked over and looked at the piece she'd taken him to see. Even with his surprise at all the abstract on the walls he may have been more surprised by the work in progress than anything. "Wow…" he said as his eyes moved over the intricate drawings. "Look at those details… and that accuracy… wow…" he said. The sketches were truly amazing. "They look like the actual pictures only… cartoonified? You did all of these by hand?"

Lara nodded. "Yeah."

"Wicked," he nodded. "And how about this stuff?" he asked, walking back over to one of the drawings on the wall. It was in tones of purple, black, and white, and it was one of the craziest mixes of designs he'd ever seen. Even crazier and more intricate than those on the side of the single-wide trailer that had housed his former nodded, following along beside him, watching him as he looked at each piece in turn.

"Yep. These are all mine. All my friends tell me that I've got one of the craziest minds they've ever seen to be able to create all of these kinds of things…" she added with a laugh.

"No, I think it's cool," he said, glancing at her before going back to looking at the works on the walls. A few moments later, he came across one painting different from all the others. It looked sort of like two faces blended into one, in front of a crazy-looking background. He glanced at her again, and pointed to it. "This one looks different… what's it supposed to be?"

She stepped up next to him and looked at it for a moment before reaching up and picking it up off the wall. Turning it around so they could see the back, she pointed out the title - _Matt and Jeff, The Hardys: It's Us Against The World_. Then, she turned it around again. "It's supposed to be you and Matt," she said, indicating the two faces. They came almost together at the middle, then split out into two different directions. "See? And then on your side I've got an ocean wave that comes up and sort of forms your J logo, and on Matt's side I've got flames that form his MH logo. Where the facial figures come together, it symbolizes how you guys are one in the same, family. Then as you branch out, away from one another, it symbolizes how you can also be polar opposites. It can also be seen as your wrestling history, where you started out as a tag team, but now you're branching out into singles competition. It's kinda like… the end of an era, but yet, there's that possibility to bring back the tag team magic."

"Woah," Jeff said, looking closer at the painting as he listened. "That's deep. I've never seen anything like this before… and I've got a lot of mindblowing stuff that fans've given to me. This is just… amazing."

"Umm, thanks," Lara said, watching him as he looked at it. "I made it, actually, when the Hardys got back together. I've never shown it to anybody before. You can have it, if you like it that much…"

"Can I? Really?" Jeff asked. "Are you sure?"

Lara nodded. "Yeah. Otherwise it'll probably never leave my studio," she remarked with a laugh.

"Dude, no, don't talk like that," Jeff said, taking special care to hold his newest piece with extra caution. "You've got real talent here. People just need to see it," he commented, nodding. Before, he had spotted a doorway leading further into the basement. He wondered whether or not she had other equipment down here. "So what other sorts of artistic stuff are you into? Music or anything?" he asked.

Two and a half hours later, Jeff happened to glance down at the watch on his wrist. Three fourty-five. Where the hell had the time gone? He and Lara had talked about everything; art, music, literature, poetry, sports, wrestling, television, interests, etcetera. It was like they'd known each other their whole lives, rather than having just met mere hours ago."Oh, man, I gotta get going," he said, standing. "Thanks for the picture again… and you really do have a lot of talent that can get you really far," he said, nodding and motioning around to all the artwork on the walls.

"Thanks," Lara said, nodding once and shyly tucking some hair behind her ear. She was always self-conscious whenever someone commented on her work. "Well, um, it was nice to meet you Jeff…"

Jeff flashed a friendly smile. "See you around, Lara," he said before turning and starting toward the stairs, artwork in hand. Halfway between the second and third steps, he stopped. He turned around to face her once again, smiling once more before turning and walking back upstairs. After carrying his mail and the newly-acquired artwork out to his car, he got in the driver's seat. He pulled out his cell phone and found Lara's number. He saved it before starting the car, backing out, and driving away toward Matt's house.

**She said "Yes!", and I said "Wow!"  
She said "When?", and I said "How about right now?"  
Love can't wait, then I asked if she believed in fate  
****And she said "Yes…"**

The days flew by just like a fast train,  
And nothing else has been on my brain,  
Except the thought of how she makes me the man I wanna be  
She's the one I want for a million reasons,  
Loving her is just like breathing,  
It's easy, and it's obvious that she was made for me  
Then it happened one night looking in her eyes,  
Ohhhh when I popped the question, much to my surprise…

A few days after meeting Lara, Jeff realized that he was starting to feel… differently… since she'd come into his life. He couldn't quite explain the change, but at the same time, he wasn't about to complain about it either. He was feeling happier than he had in a long, long time. And he knew… he knew it was because of Lara. He also knew he had to see her again. So one afternoon, while he was sitting in his living room, strumming randomly on his guitar, he decided to give her a call. So he picked up his phone that was laying on the floor, and flipped it open. After he'd found the number, Jeff pressed the 'Send' button, pressed the phone to his ear, and listened to the rings.

It was like Jeff's compliment on her talent had sparked something in Lara. In a mere four days she had completed two more abstract paintings, and was well on her way to completing third. Her meeting with him was a very special experience, one that she was not likely to forget. She had thought about it a lot, and she wished she could spend more time with him. Little did Lara Vanderheyden know, she was just moments away from receiving her was down in her basement working on yet another abstract piece when she heard her phone ring. Putting down the sketching pencil she was using, she darted up the stairs and picked the phone up off the table without so much as a glance at the Caller ID. She slid the cover up and held it to her ear. "Hello?" she asked cheerfully.

"Lara?"

"Speaking."

"Hey. It's Jeff… Hardy…" he said, wondering if that made him sound like an idiot. How was he supposed to know how many Jeffs she knew, anyway?

"Oh, hey!" she said in a tone that you could hear the smile in her voice. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you again so soon. What's up?"

"Oh, not much," he said. "Just calling to see how you're doing… and if, maybe… you'd like to get a bite to eat."

"Oh, um, I'm good, thanks," Lara said, nodding. "And… a bite to eat? Sure, that sounds fun," she said. "When did you want to go?"

"How about I pick you up in fifteen minutes?"

"Okay, see you then," Lara said. She hung up her phone and went and changed into a pair of jeans and a white tank top over a black spaghetti strap tank. She pulled her hair back into a high ponytail and quickly washed up. Making sure she had everything she needed, Lara slipped her phone into her small black purse and slung it over her shoulder. After walking over to her front door, she slipped on a pair of black and white sneakers as she watched for him. A few minutes later, she saw his black Corvette turn into her driveway. She walked out and closed the door behind her before turning and trotting down the steps and toward the now-open passenger side door. Lara got in, and buckled up. "Hiya."

"Hey," Jeff said, easing the car back out onto the road and driving off. "How are you?"

"Pretty good," Lara said, nodding. "How about you? Anything interesting come in the mail?"

Jeff laughed. "Nah, not really. Just some stuff for work, like a new pair of wrestling boots."

"Cool," Lara said.

"How about you?" Jeff asked. "Finished any new paintings lately?"

"Yeah, actually," Lara informed. "I did two new ones in the past, like, week. That's got to be a record… for me, anyway," she added with a chuckled.

"Doesn't it feel good though?"

"Yeah, it does," Lara agreed. It really did boost self-confidence, getting compliments… and she was going to ride the positive wave as far as it would carryher.

Jeff nodded. He was trying to come up with something to talk about to make conversation. Small talk was something that usually came easily to the Rainbow-Haired Warrior. But at the moment it seemed as if Jeffrey Nero Hardy had 'No More Words'. Inside his mind he mentally grasped into the dark for a conversation starter. "So um… are you from here originally, or did you just move to Cameron?"

"I'm actually from the Raleigh area," she said, getting out of the car after he parked it outside the small café. "I just moved here recently. I wanted to get away, but not super far."

"That's cool," he nodded. "So what do you do?" he asked, "Like, for a living?"

"I'm a journalist slash photographer," Lara told him. "And then a painter on the side," she laughed. "Guess you could call me one of those artistic types who ever really decided what she wants to do."

"Do you, like, write for a paper or something?"

"Yup. I'm a sports writer. I cover prep sports, and my specialties are volleyball and basketball."

"Basketball. Sweet. Or, maybe the correct terminology is… ballin'? Haha. That's cool. I like to write, too, but like… not like articles and stuff."

And the rest of the afternoon passed like that. Each of the two took turns with questions, asking and answering. There wasn't a topic in the world they didn't cover. For the afternoon it was like the Charismatic Enigma turned into… the Emotional Enigma. Because, seriously… he'd know this girl for what, a week? And he's pouring his heart out to her? That's not usual. There was definitely something much, much deeper than either of them could imagine. And little did either of them know, it would be a long time before days like that stopped happening… if they ever did.

Two days later, Matt showed up at Jeff's house. He found his brother in the living room, watching old reruns of… Scooby Doo? What the…? Whatever. He walked over and sat down… no, more like flopped down… onto the floor.

"Hey, yo. What's up? I haven't heard from you in a while."

"I called you two days ago."

"You used to call me every day, though," Matt retorted with a sarcastic pout - which transformed into a grin as he threw a throw pillow at his brother and hit him in the head. Score!

Jeff snatched up the pillow and stuffed it under his head. "I've been thinking a lot lately…" After a short pause, he added, "Well… more than usual."

"About?"

"Well, there's this girl…"

"Oh good god. Not again," Matt joked. "Don't tell me she's one of those crazy Hardy groupies that is always following the SmackDown! Tour…?"

Jeff rolled his eyes. "No, dumbass," he said. "She lives in that house I used to rent. She called me like two weeks ago because I got some mail, and I went over there to get it. Then I ended up spending like… three hours there," he said. He paused, thinking about the last two weeks.

Matt could tell that there was something different about his brother. He'd never seen him like this before. Well, okay, one time… but that had ended badly. There was no point in drudging up bad memories. "That's… cool," he said.

"Yeah. Then we went out to eat together a few days ago… man, I mean, I don't know. She's just... like… crazy cool," he said. The one of his voice started to give away what he was thinking about and what he was feeling. "I think… I think that there's a question I have to ask her."

Matt thought for a moment, then sat up and looked at his brother. "No way. Are you sure?"

Jeff just nodded. He was very sure.

**She said "Yes!", and I said "Wow!"  
She said "When?", and I said "How about right now?"  
Love can't wait, then I asked if she believed in fate  
****And she said "Yes…"**

So we called the preacher, family and friends,  
**And nothing's been the same since she said yes…**

Three weeks later, at a small town church nearby, the entire Hardy and Vanderheyden families along with a ton of friends were gathered for a wedding ceremony. Dressed in the traditional black and white, Jeff and Lara were ready to unite their lives once and for all. The wedding was greatly extravagant, any young girl's dream. There were flowers on the pews and the altar, the expansive wedding party in matching dresses and tuxes, Lara in her gorgeous white gown with an extensive train… she'd even talked Jeff into wearing a black tuxedo rather than some other color. It was spectacularly and beautifully put together, with an almost angelic atmosphere considering it was put together in less than two and a half weeks. After the ceremony, the party was moved to the expansive stretch of land between Matt and Jeff's houses. There were numerous tents set up, and it was one of the biggest parties you've ever seen in your life. Looking back on it, Lara would say that it was definitely her dream wedding. If you asked Jeff, he would say that he was happy because Lara was happy. And now, the happiness would last forever.

**She said "Yes!", and I said "Wow!"  
She said "When?", and I said "How about right now?"  
Love can't wait, then I asked if she believed in fate  
****And she said "Yes…"**


End file.
